What colors are best for avoiding detection in an urban environment? I heard black is actually bad because it outlines you and makes you darker than your environment.what colors are good? Also what can I wear clothing wise to blend into a building/ shadows/ urban areas better?

as Granuaile says your better off being able to move quickly and quietly than wearing a bunch of camo. And if someone see's you or you get caught you have a whole lot of explaining to do. If your REALLY think its worth it you could try to dress as a construction worker or something similar but I would not hold to much faith in that kind of thing.

There's a couple factors you should look at before deciding to go out in a full on ghillie suit.

First off, are you trying to avoid being seen, or are you expected to be seen? If you don't want to be seen, you'll want to wear colors that match the environment, like the ground and the walls. You'll also want to pack lightweight, and quiet. Avoid loud backpacks and clothing with metals bits like zippers and belt buckles. Also keep in mind how loud your footwear is. As Granuaile says, wearing tight clothing is also important, if your trying to avoid detection completely you might need to make fast, evasive movements and you don't want to be constricted by your clothes, or by anything that would grab onto clothing. Finally, watch how you use light. Don't shine flashlights at windows, or on large areas where someone might see. I've also read that using a dim red light as a flashlight is effective for the short range from Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching, page 56. (Don't deprive yourself of lighting in hazardous areas!)

If you're expected to be seen, or feel that there isn't a way to remain unseen, then you might have better luck with with hiding in plain sight. In that case you'll want to dress as anyone that would fit your target environment, like a white shirt and jeans for manual labor areas like maintenance or construction, or some slacks and a dress shirt for more professional areas. I've heard the book Access All Areas by Ninjalicious covers this topic well.

A final thing to consider is the amount of risk your putting yourself at by disguising yourself like this. How will this look if you are caught? Understand that impersonating some government roles might be illegal, a cop, for example. Maybe dressing in normal clothes would be the best option, as it will make you seem less malicious if you were caught.

Posted by DarkAngelIn an urban setting, I'd think camo of any type would make you stand out more.

Be the 'grey man.' You know, the dude that nobody pays attention to. The construction worker walking around with a clipboard looking busy, homeless dude poking at random stuff with a stick, etc.

People tend to look right past that stuff, but a dude in camo isn't normal so it grabs attention.

Grey is the best urban color.

I always wear cam pants and my bush hatReally it's more what you're doing than wearing.You're not invisible.Blue jeans stick out like a sore thumb in the bush.I never wear bright colors or blue... or carry a clipboard.

Grey is absolutely the best, and most of my pants and some of my jackets are grey, but you can get use out of tan, navy blue, and black as well. The latter two are probably better only for places where active infiltration is called for, where grey and tan work also. Grey is best in concrete settings and tan is best in dirt settings.

Ultimately, you want to dress to not be noticed, not to not be seen. You're better off if people see you and don't notice anything suspicious. This means no T-shirts, nothing with eye-catching designs or slogans, no shorts, no pants with too many pockets or camo pattern, no huge backpack, no big hiking boots or sandals. In my opinion the best footwear looks like dress shoes (but the kind I get are steel-toed). Dress like you're going to work, not infiltrating the jungles of Vietnam.

Posted by SteedDress like you're going to work, not infiltrating the jungles of Vietnam.

This is far and away the best advice, just wear normal stuff that doesn't attract attention. Try to fit in rather than blend in.

Deer and elk see into the UV range humans dont see that's why hunters avoid blue jeans just hit a pair with a black light sometime.

Color is a very misunderstood subject, its not just the rods and cones in our eyes but our cognitive awareness of shapes and colors that don't belong. If you insist on being captain tactical and must wear some sort of 'flage then there are urban camo patterns that if nothing else, break up your outline. They also make you look like some kind of nut or swat team wannabe.

Passing motorists see a guy in a grey polo shirt they may not take a second look. On the other hand they see some guy in an alley wearing tiger stripe or marpat digi-cam theyre going to go, hey, wtf is that guy doing?

Heres a real good one called RealTree TM for slinking around the woods however, if you want to avoid animals don't wash these with Tide or Gain or some other commercial detergents those contain fabric brighteners i.e. UV reflecting stuff, check out a bow hunting page for more details and photos. Im a reformed hunter but deer's eyes have not evolved in 100s of thousands of years that Im aware of. No cones never had them!

For most animals motion is more revealing than color or pattern. Ive had deer walk up to within 10' of me and stamp their hooves and snort trying to get me to move or blink. Inevitably I had to blink or exhale on a frosty morning and they took off like they had been scalded. Stay motionless my friends.

Depending on the situation you can also rock safety vests/hard hats. I can’t really pull it off as I look pretty young but if you are at least 23 maybe you can wear a safety vest and people won’t think as they see you going into an abandoned building. Just use common sense and make yourself look like what you would expect someone in that situation to look like. The mind tries to make sense of everything around it subconsciously so unless you are drawing attention to yourself people will ignore you.

Actually I would probably say “don’t draw attention” is the golden rule of not only urban exploration but just doing things you shouldn’t in general.

Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not, we never are. But that's not the right question. The question is, are we living a life that is worth the harm?

I tend to go for plain earth- colored clothes- dark blues and greens, and soft greys, blacks, and browns. Most of my explorations are in an environment where being seen is a an inevitability, but being noticed is not- thus, a hoodie or jacket and jeans usually will suffice.

Also, avoid patterns, logos, and lettering on your clothing. It is memorable and distinct.

At the end of the day, we're all just archaeologists who jumped the gun.

Posted by 2XplorationsHeres a real good one called RealTree TM for slinking around the woods however, if you want to avoid animals don't wash these with Tide or Gain or some other commercial detergents those contain fabric brighteners i.e. UV reflecting stuff, check out a bow hunting page for more details and photos. Im a reformed hunter but deer's eyes have not evolved in 100s of thousands of years that Im aware of. No cones never had them!

For most animals motion is more revealing than color or pattern. Ive had deer walk up to within 10' of me and stamp their hooves and snort trying to get me to move or blink. Inevitably I had to blink or exhale on a frosty morning and they took off like they had been scalded. Stay motionless my friends.

1.

click to view

Bump. I've had to hunker down more than once to E&E from humans in the wooded areas. In PA I wore that camo a lot... good stuff.Truth, you need to stay still not to be seen.Watch, listen and wait...

I don't post here as much because most of my exploring has been without a camera and in active areas. With that said let me roll down a quick how to. I think the question is wrong you shouldn't ask about colors but how to blend in.

Site Observation - Where is this place, who lives/works in the area, what are they wearing? How do they walk/act? Are they constantly moving fast or bored and lazy? Security isn't necessarily looking for out of place clothing unless its high rent areas, they catch people acting out of place. I would recommend a book called left of bang, but it's a big book and only a smaller section discusses what out of place looks like.

Most of your clothes should come from goodwill for this, to save scratch.

Much of this below is very detailed a lot of this you will do without thought, but for the sake of discussion, I am going deep.

1. What are people wearing?Simple to realize, but this might change with the day such as weekends etc. Also, this becomes more critical if you have a long distance to travel to your location. Many times I walked miles through the city instead of having my car for easy access and potentially in harm's way of being seen. That meant I would be traveling in areas with different clothing was out of place. Many times you can blend in multiple areas if you do it right. Just don't pretend to be a hobo with clean shoes and don't be a hobo looking guy in a rich neighborhood.

On a side note if you are working in an area that is affluent the best transit outfit is athletic clothes and headphones. This also allows a small pack for a quick clothing change.

2. What are people doing?Are people in a rush to and from work, are people being slobby shitbags and strolling down the street high off their ass on drugs? Mimic the natural inhabitants. If you are pretending to be a businessman and are wearing black slacks and a collared shirt the pants color don't matter, but if you are not moving with the flow you will look odd.

3. When are people doing/wearing what?Timing is important as well. Some areas you will see business types most of the day but at night the drugs and homeless come walking out. If you are coming back at night being a slob will look more in line then being well dressed

4. How do you plan on entering?Some places I have gone to required me to move through wooded areas to the back of a facility. Those times I tended to actually wear some camo. Now camo is regionally specific. The old brown green black camo worked well in my region, don't wear military clothes if they don't fit the environment. If you are working in a street environment and moving into woods you can always get away with camo pants and a shirt such as navy blue, maroon etc.

-So here are some of the tricks with colors.

Black is un natural and only seen when there is a fire usually. Black is easier fo the eye to catch and night because your eyes are so light-starved that when absolutely black moves it is easy to see.

Dark Blue is great for night movement but doesn't look too threatening

Maroon is a great color and if you are spotted moving around people automatically assume you aren't doing anything bad because maroon is close to red and people would think you were nuts trying to be sneaky in red. Also around bricks, it nearly turns you invisible at night.

Greys are good for urban environments, but only if that urban environment is conducive to that. Darker greys will stand out in tans, or light greys will pop on dark red brick. People think grey is a conducive color for urban environments but trust someone who lived in a lot of urban shitholes around the world in grey, it doesn't blend. Now grey doesn't catch the eye like other colors but remember that contrast. Also, certian greys are hard for dogs to perceive and they will bite you that's why many grey uniforms have a large stripe running down the leg.

Neon running clothes and reflective stuff works really well to hide in plain sight. LE and people generally ignore you unless you look amazingly hot. If you go this route dress very light and in most cities, you will be ignored as someone exercising. Have a location to do a quick change or be visually secluded and then change or place clothes on over.

"If the threat level goes up its probably because of me." "I am looking for a girl who enjoys headbutting beltbuckles"

On a side note don't ever look directly at anyone. We can see people looking at us from long damn ways away. We don't even recognize how good we are at doing this, but it is so good that if you look a foot away from someones face they will know you aren't looking in there eyes. With that said use your peripheral vision, this is probably the best damn camo trick in the book be it hiding or just not looking suspicious. If you eyeball the cop his eyes will come straight toward you, but if you give no fucks he will generally ignore you. It is thought to be such obvious queue for humans we can see it in car mirrors pretty easily. You will notice most animals don't have much white showing so its a dead give away, just like teeth.

"If the threat level goes up its probably because of me." "I am looking for a girl who enjoys headbutting beltbuckles"

Truth, 2X that!I've done it driving down Main St in Norristown Pa. The person was in a 2nd story window and nearly at a right angle to me when I got 'that' feeling. They literally jumped when I abruptly turned my head and stared straight into their eyes.Voodoo. That was 30 plus years ago, and it sticks in my memory because of its stark strangeness.

Never stare directly at someone unless you want them to notice you! Look casually

Another reason to wear sunglasses in the daytime. I'm pretty adapt at not moving my head using my eyes instead... hiding and watching behind those damn dark polarized UV protecting shades... I wuv em.

Posted by DarkAngelBe the 'grey man.' You know, the dude that nobody pays attention to. The construction worker walking around with a clipboard looking busy, homeless dude poking at random stuff with a stick, etc.

People tend to look right past that stuff, but a dude in camo isn't normal so it grabs attention.

This is spot on. You can literally be more invisible in a reflective vest and hard hat or jeans, polo, & sportball team cap than in all gray, or in 'urban camo.'